Loss of inshore biodiversity.

A good number of you will have read this piece, bit.ly/gYXZvE, if not please do, and then take out of the library or purchase "The Unnatural History of the Sea" and "Ocean of Life" both by Prof' Callum Roberts, especially if you were born post 1975.

Two schools of thought here, we can do nothing because the problem is too big so lets just put up and get on with it, or we can reverse to some degree the Greek tragedy playing out all around us.

I was lucky enough to experience reasonably plentiful seas ten minutes from my home twenty five years ago, today I travel close on five hours and easily 200 miles (one way) to get something similar, and I know on form in twenty years that fishing will not be there either.

Given that our money presently is being spent on an economic survey to establish the value of recreational angling to Ireland, would it not be timely for sea angling interests to finally coalesce on this most important issue and generate what would be a very large collective shout which would most definitely be heard in Leinster house and beyond.

Very good article Ashley, I think we all knew the damage that has been done to the east coast, but when you put it with all the facts, its plain to see there is a massive problem...

I remember the stories my dad and grandad used to tell me about the massive plaice they used to catch from the shore... i dont think ive ever caught a plaice from the shore on the east coast!

With regard to doing something about it... i would definately be interested

What can we do?

I was born post 75 so i will check out those books.

im afraid i also have to put forward us anglers as a cause in the seventies ashley .all our comps were fished from killiney to wicklow .greystones and kilcoole held most of the opens and none of the fish were released .bags of dead smoothies spurdogs even tope. plaice and flounder pollock, codling over 12" all kept and weighed in dead .comps would see up to 200 anglers every sat and sunday. as the fish take got less we moved down the coast .and started from wicklow to arklow and so on.some comps would see up to 5 maybe 6 hundred fish destroyed. this had a big effect on our fishing grounds along with the other causes posted.on a very happy note ashley iwas on clones strand yesterday and stood on the bridge on the beach the river is alive again with small fish .flats were zooming all over the bed and small trout jumping for flys .the water was of very good quality[which is expected after all the rain]but the biggest plus has to be the amount of fry bubbling all along the river .i was not able to stay but i will be there again in a couple of weeks will be interesting to see if the abundance of eels has returned. i havent seen it like this since late seventies